ABSTRACT
As Gunnar Myrdal has observed, ‘“the southern gentleman,’ ‘southern lady,’ and ‘southern hospitality’ are proverbial, even if stereotyped.” 1 Whether they are proverbial or not, such designations of the South and southerners are unique, for there are no equivalencies such as “western gentleman,” “midwestern lady,” or “northern hospitality.” Nevertheless, just as there are many “Souths,” there are many forms of southern hospitality. At times, the southern hospitality displayed to foreigners is so generous that some become suspicious about its underlying motives. Some overly sensitive foreigners might interpret the egregious benevolence to be a backhanded form of southern prejudice. Others might unwittingly abuse southern hospitality. I, for one, certainly have taken advantage of southern hospitality in my fieldwork. If southerners are hospitable to foreign guests in general, surely they are particularly hospitable to the Japanese who bring their capital with them and create jobs for southerners.
